It’s really a shame that Dominick Cruz will squash his beef with Urijah Faber following UFC 132.

It has just started to get entertaining.

More than that, though, it’s been a promising start to what’s hopefully a long tradition in headliners featuring fighters of a lighter weight.

Not so long ago, brand confusion between the WEC and the UFC made for some awkward conversation between fighters and fans. Now, there’s no mistaking this fact: The little guys have arrived.

And there’s nothing that gets fans and promoters going like a grudge match, or perhaps just the illusion of one. Granted, Cruz (17-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Faber (25-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has big shoes to fill. They haven’t broken into screaming matches. They haven’t kicked chairs or thrown water bottles. No one has been threatened to be beaten into the living death.

But sitting opposite each other at the dais at the pre-event press conference for UFC 132, which takes place Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, it was clear that one person was having fun at the other’s expense. That person was Faber.

The ex-featherweight champ turned bantamweight contender has gotten a bead on Cruz’s soft spot, and he enjoyed elbowing it during the gathering.

Cruz has said the whole beef started following their first fight at WEC 26, which Faber won in the first round with a guillotine choke. Instead of letting down his guard and, perhaps, showing some compassion for his recently vanquished foe, Cruz got the impression Faber was rubbing in his victory with a short exchange after the fight.

Who, me? Faber said Thursday. Well, actually, it was him.

“I went up to him and I said, ‘Good fight,'” Faber said. “That was it. I said, ‘Good fight, buddy.’

“I don’t think I was rubbing it in. I was just kind of like, ‘Good fight. Try again, buddy.’ But he knows what I meant. He was right.”

Cruz sat seething across the aisle (not an unfamiliar feeling for him when looking back at the roots of that fight, which took place four years ago). Then-champ Faber was on the poster, and he wasn’t. So he started signing his name over Faber’s face whenever he had a chance at events during the WEC’s heyday. That pissed off Faber, and he vented about it during interviews.

Which, more or less, lays the foundation of the fight. Since it’s been booked, Faber has taken to viral videos to profess his dislike of Cruz, and Cruz hasn’t held back on the mic when asked about “The California Kid.”

Which is often, according to Cruz. In fact, ever since he won his bantamweight belt, Faber’s name has circled him like a summer mosquito. That’s, of course, led Faber to accuse the champ of jealously – all that attention and promotion he never got in the WEC, and maybe longer back than that.

“He’s done a lot for the sport in the lighter weight classes; you can’t deny him,” Cruz said. “Without him being started in the lighter weight classes, they probably wouldn’t be where they are today.

“But jealously? That’s just his big head talking again. It’s more along the lines of, ‘I’ve been a champion for a while now, and right after I win the title, it’s questions about losing to Urijah Faber, and not questions about how well I did winning my title.’ I’m ready for those questions to stop, and I’m ready to prove I’m the champion on Saturday night.”

Thus far, only Faber has been able to solve the puzzle that is Cruz. But since their first fight, Cruz has perfected a spazzy-footed style that’s not only confounded opponents, it’s left them in the dust. Those opponents include one of Faber’s closest allies, Joseph Benavidez, who twice has fallen short on points to Cruz.

Faber, of course, has promised to hunt down Cruz and punish him where he stands. But Cruz feels he won’t be caught, especially with more real estate to play with inside the bigger cage of the UFC.

“A lot of people, when they’re fighting me, they’re goal is to head me off,” he told MMAjunkie.com. “You can say that, but everybody that I train with has to do that too when I spar. It’s something that everybody’s trying to do, and it’s something that I’m ready for. A bigger cage just makes it easier.”

But Faber said he has the speed to succeed where others have failed.

“I’m really fast, especially at this light weight,” he said. “I think he’s more awkward, and we’re both fast.”

While neither fighter would likely win a season of “Last Coming Standing,” their little back and forth has provided an entertaining backdrop to what should be a frenetic, action-packed fight.

“The reason it’s a grudge match is because you put Dominick and I in the same little neighborhood, and we probably would have ended up fighting each other – because of his bad attitude and me not taking crap, and me being the badder dude,” Faber said. “That’s what this is about. (As) like-minded people, we’re going to butt heads when it comes to the fight game, and we’re going to see who’s boss.”

Legend faces first step toward title or possible retirement

Wanderlei Silva is one of the most revered fighters in MMA’s history. His four-year reign of terror in PRIDE is one of those things burned into the memory of every fan who’s followed the sport from its dark days.

But that was seven years ago, and the MMA of today is growing at an exponential rate. After migrating from the Japanese promotion in late 2007 on the heels of two knockout losses, he went 2-3 inside the octagon and suffered a brutal knockout loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. An injury put him out of action for 16 months, and in just that short span of time, Silva said, the sport changed and grew again.

The question moving forward, of course, is whether Silva is capable of growing with the sport. He’s fought 45 fights and probably 100s when you count the wars he’s had at the revered Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil. He is, as anyone with eyes would admit, not the same fighter he was during the height of PRIDE.

But does he have enough left in the tank for one last run?

The UFC has paired Silva (33-10-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) with Chris Leben (21-7 MMA, 11-6 UFC), a fighter with a comparable amount of wear-and-tear who’s at times led with his fists instead of his brain. Leben is coming off a loss to Brian Stann and is facing his own questions of relevancy after so many seesaws in his MMA career.

Silva, of course, said he’s back in business after his layoff and said he is ready to prove he can fight at the highest levels. Leben wants to stave off another slide down the division’s ladder. Of the two, he likely has a better claim to having the ability to keep going as a younger and less-worn fighter.

Both have spoken about being smarter in their approach as they enter the latter half of their careers. But they’re both strikers by nature, and thoughts like that can quickly go out the window.

“We are entertainers,” Leben said. “I hate to watch guys that go in there and fight not to lose. I’m going to fight to beat him. But the fact is that I look at it as an explosion, but somewhat of a controlled explosion. I am an athlete, and I have skills. I’m going to do what I need to do where I need to do it. But yeah, it’s me and Wanderlei. I don’t think it’s going to be hard to live up to.”

Additionally, ex-UFC light-heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz (15-8-1 MMA, 14-8-1 UFC) has his last chance to prove he belongs in the promotion after five years without a win. Meeting him is Ryan Bader (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), who’s coming off the first loss of his career, which came against now-champ Jon Jones. Bader is a huge favorite in betting lines since he’s the younger and fresher fighter. Ortiz, who’s still crowing about injuries he’s had to overcome to make it back to the octagon this past year, has his back to the wall, though he’s previously promised not to retire if UFC president Dana White orders him to do so.

Also, welterweights Carlos Condit (26-5 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Dong Hyun Kim (14-0-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) face off in a bout both expect to clear the way for a shot at champ Georges St-Pierre’s title. And lightweights Dennis Siver (18-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) and Matt Wiman (13-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) meet in a bout that could move Siver to within distance of a title shot by next year.

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